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Crews battled fire at derelict Perth hotel last night

Firefighters from Perth, Dundee and Dunkeld all attended the blaze in York Place

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was called to respond to reports of a fire at the derelict Waverley Hotel in Perth’s York Place last night (17 November 2015).

Operations control in Dundee received a call at 9.39pm reporting a fire in the roof space of the former hotel.

Three appliances from Perth (including an aerial rescue platform), one from Dunkeld, two appliances from Blackness Road in Dundee (including their aerial rescue platform) and the Incident Command Unit from Dundee were all involved in the incident.

The fire was initially fought with one main jet before being sectorised and both aerial rescue platforms were used as water towers. Firefighters in breathing apparatus also used two main jets to tackle the fire, which was brought under control by 1.55am this morning (18 November 2015).

A thermal imaging camera was also used to check for hot spots and signs of fire spread.

The last appliances left the scene in the hands of Police Scotland at 2.25am and a fire investigation into the cause is expected to take place in due course.

Station Manager Bob Rearie, who was at the scene, said: "Our main concern was to establish whether or not there was anyone inside the building, which was balanced with the concern for our own crews due to the derelict nature of the building.

"We initially tackled the fire from the exterior before sending crews in to search the premises. We were quickly able to establish there was no one inside.

"This was a well-established fire and working in partnership with Police Scotland, who ensured the area was cordoned off, we were able to deploy our resources to tackle the fire effectively.

"This was a challenging fire for the crews to deal with due to the difficulties in accessing the roof and the dangers inside due to the hotel being in a state of disrepair. They did an excellent job."

Police Scotland are urging anyone with any information about the fire to contact them on 101.